Chapter 30: 30
With a rumble, Li Qingshan placed all of the game before grandpa Zang . “This should make up for the food I’ve eaten during the time I’ve spent here!”
There were gulps in the surroundings . In particular, the hunters who had just returned were dumbfounded . They had set off with a large group of people, working together in cooperation with careful preparation, yet the prey they had caught was still less than Li Qingshan’s hoard .
Even more to his surprise, grandpa Zang discovered that there were not even any wounds on many of the game . “Just how did you hunt?”
This was the question everyone present wanted answered . Li Qingshan considered it before replying, “With my hands!”
Everyone was taken aback in admiration, but they could not bring themselves to question him further .
Li Qingshan glanced at the prey the hunters had brought back from the mountains . “You’ve caught so much as well . You’re almost going to catch up to me . No, I have to put some more effort into it, or I can’t win . ”
Grandpa Zang was unable to explain to him that the prey would be split between each hunter . On average, there was not even a prey for each hunter . Li Qingshan had basically won already after the first day of hunting .
Li Qingshan ate before returning to the mountains .
The hunters returned to the mountains in the north and told everyone what had happened in the village .
“How’s that possible?”
“You must have drunk in the village!”
“It’s true . There really was that much game . ” They explained in a hurry .
“This kid!” Huang Binghu exhaled deeply and called out, “All of you put your back into it . Don’t fall behind him . If even all of us combined can’t match him alone, we’d better kill ourselves in shame!”
The hunters agreed loudly, and their morale swelled .
Huang Binghu secretly held back a series of coughs . He looked at the centre of his hand and saw some dark red blood .
On a path in the mountains, a convoy moved slowly . At the centre was a sedan chair carried by four men, and over a dozen guards and servants were gathered in the surroundings .
A fat man lifted up the curtains of the sedan, revealing his chubby face . He asked, “Advisor, how far are we from Qingyang city?” It was clearly late autumn, yet he was still drenched in sweat as he sat in the sedan chair .
A person dressed like a caretaker said, “Sir, it’s still quite far away . If we can arrive by tonight, we’ll be doing fine . ”
The fat man placed down the curtains and muttered to himself, “Despite all of my knowledge at administering affairs, he actually sent me to such a remote place to be a district magistrate . Sir prefect really is befuddled . ”
“Sir, you can’t say things like that . It’ll be bad if it makes it to the prefect . ”
The fat official snorted and said nothing more .
Rwaar! A roar rang out from the thicket beside the mountain path .
The sedan chair fell to the ground with a thud, shaking up the fat official . “W- what’s happening? Is someone trying to murder me?”“S- sir, i- it’s a tiger!” The advisor fell to the ground and pointed ahead with his trembling finger .
A magnificent tiger leapt down from the slope, landing on the mountain path . It glared at the sedan chair viciously as it stood there majestically . The tiger had a ‘王’ pattern on its head .
“Huff, tiger? What? A Tiger! S- somebody come quick and deal with this beast!”
The advisor was close to bursting out into tears . “T- they’ve all fled . ”
The fat official lifted up the curtains of the sedan chair to look around . As expected, the chairmen, guards, and servants were nowhere to be seen, having all fled for their lives . They had reacted as soon as the tiger’s roar had rung out . As working people at the bottom of society, they were constantly vigilant .
As the saying went, people would pale from the mention of a tiger . There was not a single common person who did not fear tigers in this day and age . Tigers eating people was nothing out of the ordinary .
“My advisor, you really are loyal . I haven’t favored you for nothing!” the fat official said emotionally .
The advisor responded automatically, “Thank you for your praise, sir . Even if this one becomes torn to shreds, I’ll never be able to reciprocate even one ten-thousandth of the kindness you’ve shown me . ” Meanwhile, he cursed inside, Fucking hell, I- I can’t move!
“Hold on, I’ll go get reinforcements!” The fat official emerged from the sedan chair with great agility, about to flee for his life .
The advisor grabbed the fat official’s leg and clung on for dear life . “Sir, don’t abandon me!”
Looking at the plump pile of meat, the vicious tiger’s eyes seemed to light up . Just when it was about to lunge over, its ears suddenly perked up, and it pulled back, facing the forest . The vegetation moved about, and the rustling grew closer and closer . It gave off a much greater disturbance than when the tiger had appeared earlier .
“W- what’s that now?” the advisor murmured .
A figure flew out from the vegetation . It was a young man . His young face was not exactly handsome, but his expression was elated . He landed on the mountain path powerfully and nimbly, facing the tiger and grinning . “Now that’s a good, rare prey!”
As if the tiger knew he was difficult to deal with, it bared its fangs and brandished its claws to threaten him, but it ended up being useless . With a lunge, it threw itself at Li Qingshan with a roar .
Li Qingshan’s legs remained rooted as he grabbed the tiger’s two paws with his arms, facing the tiger’s mouth that brimmed with sharp teeth . A foul air attacked his face . He bellowed out, and his true qi surged violently . Channelling strength through his arms, he tossed the tiger several hundred kilograms in weight onto the ground, leaping and mounting its back .
He had never fought a tiger before . He had only read about Wu Song slaying a tiger from Water Margin, so he copied it, grabbing onto the tiger by its back and randomly pounding it with his fists .
The tiger roared out wildly in pain . It bucked its back suddenly, and Li Qingshan shot off . He thought to himself, Reality really is different from the books . He forced his true qi downwards and landed firmly, remaining alert against the tiger .
However, the tiger only glanced at him and growled before turning around and fleeing .
Before this moment, the fat official and the advisor had been stunned by the sight in front of their eyes . Only now did they return to their senses . They were overjoyed .
“Young hero, brave warrior, I am the prefecture magistrate of Qingyang . You’ve chased away the tiger, so I will reward you handsomely!”
However, Li Qingshan did not even glance at them . He yelled out, “Where do you think you’re going?!” With that, he rushed off, grabbing the tiger’s tail that was like a steel cord . However, it was slippery, making it difficult to get a grip on it . How could Li Qingshan be willing to let such a good prey escape from right in front of him? He rushed off in pursuit .
The fat official and advisor only recovered from the surprise after quite a while . They looked at each other .
The autumn hunt had ended, and a joyful atmosphere filled the Drawn Reins village .
Li Qingshan also returned to the village . There were several wounds on his body now . As such, he seemed to be in quite a sorry shape . However, everyone looked at him in reverence, not because of his wounds, but because of the prey on his shoulders .
He was carrying an adult tiger on his shoulders .
He had chased the tiger for a whole day and a whole night through the forest . He had only managed this feat through the endurance that the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength had granted him . If it were not for Xiao An, who helped him follow the tiger’s trail, he would have come close to losing it many times .
However, Xiao An was unable to get too close to this king of the mountain . Tigers naturally possessed an aura that could subdue ghosts . As a matter of fact, tigers that had become tiger monsters or tiger daemons could even turn the people it had eaten into subservient ghosts .
The children from the village ran around Li Qingshan as their eyes shone with admiration .
Huang Binghu personally came out to welcome him back before declaring him to be the winner . No one in the village dared to object . Not only were tigers extremely terrifying beasts to ordinary people, hunters felt the same about them . Ordinary hunting bows were unable to kill tigers and would instead rouse their viciousness, while facing a tiger in close combat with a hunting knife would only lead to death .
Li Qingshan had killed the tiger, so he seemed to possess the might of a tiger .
“I don’t really have anything valuable, so this Stone Splitter bow can serve as the prize for this autumn hunt!” Huang Binghu suddenly removed the huge bow from his back .